How do I include database fields in my mail merges if they are not on Redtail's Mail Merge Fields list?

When running mail merges within Redtail CRM itself, you can choose from Redtail's Mail Merge Fields list those fields that you want to include in your merged documents. If you want to run mail merges based upon Redtail data that you can't pull from that list, however, you can still accomplish this — you'll just need to create a Custom Export that includes all of your desired fields, run that Custom Export for the contacts that you want included in your mail merge and then use the resulting Excel file as your list when creating your mail merge within Microsoft Word itself. Note: as this is a function of Microsoft Word rather than Redtail CRM, Redtail support can assist you with creating your Custom Exports and/or creating the export file that you can use with Word. Questions on building mail merges with this data in Microsoft Word, however, should generally be directed to Microsoft support, as they are trained on and have a better grasp of the intricacies of their product(s). That said, below is a general walkthrough of the process, followed by links to other sources with information on using Excel lists with Microsoft Word versions 2003, 2010 and 2013.

In our example below, we'll look at how you would accomplish this using Microsoft Word 2007. While the steps might be slightly different if using other versions of Word, you can easily find instructions (for running mail merges using an Excel list for those other versions) on Microsoft's support website or by googling.

So, let's say we want to run a merge letter that includes the next client review date as a merged field for a group of contacts. Since client review dates are not on the list of available Mail Merge Fields within Redtail, you would need to run this merge using the method mentioned above. After creating your Custom Export and running it for your desired contacts and saving, you can then begin the process in Word (again, we're using Word 2007 in our example below).

In Word, open a new document.

Click Mailings > Start Mail Merge, and then click the kind of merge you want to run:

Click Select Recipients > Use Existing List:

Browse to your Excel spreadsheet, and then click Open. You may then need to click OK on a subsequent dialog to select the Table and connect your Excel spreadsheet to your mail merge document.

You're then ready to begin building your letter. You can use the Address Block and Greeting Line buttons to choose your format for each of those areas:

You can then begin typing the content of your letter, using the "Insert Merge Field" button to insert any of the fields that were included in your Custom Export file from Redtail where applicable. When you click Insert Merge Field, you'll see a list of each of those fields for you to choose from:

When your document’s ready, click Preview Results and click the arrows to see each specific copy of the document:

To finish the merge, click Finish & Merge, and then click Print Documents: